How important is training with full-contact sparring for self-defense?

Me and my best friend (and budo brother) spar full contact. I don't think there's any other way to actually learn how to fight for real if you can't experience the blunt force of a fight in a controlled manner.

Any of the no contact or light contact sparing is used to help technique while experiencing the unpredictability of another person. It can help teach yourself timing, balance and the ability to think on your feet, so for beginners it's a good idea to spar like that until they're more developed.

I really don't think those types of sparing methods are any good once you reach a certain plateau in martial ability. It would be like trying to make a large fire stronger by throwing small sticks in. Full contact doesn't have to be "full contact" and is still controlled, the bar is just raised a lot more.

A good practitioner won't skimp on training and at one point should be completely ready for full contact. If you don't feel you're ready, then chances are you're not.

All methods have their place. Full-contact free sparring best simulates the conditions of a "real fight" (except for situational sparring, ie: sparring with the goal of escape, sparring with one hand "injured", etc), but does nothing for the technique of a beginner. Pre-arranged, light-contact, etc. all lead the way to more advances sparring methods, and full-contact free sparring shouldn't be attempted before the student has at least experienced some of these other methods. As well, full-contact is hard on the body, and even MMA gyms only do it a few times a week, maybe more for a fighter who's preparing for a match. For someone interested in self-defense, full-contact once a week, or maybe once every two weeks, should be enough.

Incidentally, I'd like to note that in every training environment I've been in, pre-arranged sparring was full-contact. If you didn't defend correctly, you got hit pretty hard.

I think training in both point sparring and full contact sparring makes the best fighter.

From experience:

contact spars are more like kickboxing, stand and throw and take hits, mainly about taking a punch, and delivering one. This is because the objective is to knockdown your opponent, increases power and durability.

While point sparring is delivering a hit, but holding back, this improves control, and definitely increases speed as the objective is to NOT get hit.

I prefare semi-contact because:

- I don't go to karate to get beaten up

- non contact emphasises speed and blocks which are really important- for power I can just go to a punching bag to train+ conditioning exercisings-best of both worlds. How does a full contact fighter train speed and control?

I hate people who say in a real fight non contact fighters would pull back, that's a misconception, non contact fighters will see the gap, and strike full force, after karate isn't just sparring, all the basics, kata, bag work, etc makes your technique strong if you have the mental resolve to finish the fight.

As for step sparring, that just to learn application of new moves, or moves that can't be sparred with e.g. temple strikes, groin shots, locks e.t.c. That should not be your only base. I also question how effective full contact sparring is; can they really hit someone as hard as they would in a streetfight? Your opponent being your friend, or not being an aggressor wouldn't draw out the same killing intent.

Yeah theoritically, full contact sparing is the "best" way, but in practice it's not always true. Remember that with martial arts you're not just aiming for the people who are all around naturals. You're aiming as well at people who have no skill in martial arts. Anyone can teach a talented beginner how to be a great fighter. The truely skilled teachers are those who can teach a nobody, someone who can't even hurt a fly, to be great. And for that, you have many different tools for teaching.

The set excersizes where you throw something, and I block, or perform a throw, may not demonstrate realistic fighting. However they do demonstrate basics and simple moves in a controled enviroment. They develope good habits such as foot placement, timing, and good technique without the pressure of worrying about getting hit. You see a lot of people freeze up when you put them under pressure and that makes learning impossible for them so full contact sparring would instead be counter productive. Remember, we're not trying to weed out the students who can take the pressure from those who can't. We're trying to make everyone excell.

Eventually everyone should be at the level where they can take a full contact match without freaking out, but for some that's a little further down the road than with others.

I know a lot of people here suggest you need to do full contact sparring, I disagree. Full contact sparring is dangerous and for less skilled people is likely to generate injury and bad technique for fear of being hit. Full contact sparring if it occurs at all should be reserved for those people who train many hours a day for some years. Not even professional fighters train in full contact sparring, or if they do its very seldom, because they cannot risk being injured before a fight. This is what I think is important.

1) For beginners: once you have some essential techniques down is prearranged or very very slow sparring to improve technique and to ingrain certain movements into muscle memory so you can preform them without thinking. This is very important.

2) Once you can effectively block and retaliate or initiate attack and feel confident then light or semi contact sparring is good so that you begin to feel what it is like to be hit. Speed and power can be built up as those sparring feel comfortable.

3) Lastly sparring at maybe 75% power and full speed so that it feels real enough and hurts sometimes but not enough to cause serious injury, some protective gear is good at all stages (shin guards, mouth guard, good gloves, headgear if you want, groin protector obviously).

When you train this way it develops muscle memory and over time prepares you. Should you then ever get in a real fight your body will now how to respond. Full contact sparring in my opinion is foolish and a bad choice by the majority of people out there. It should only be done in a controlled situation where both fighters have a respect for the MA and for their opponent and are fully able to protect themselves. I do not believe it is a necessary part of training.

The types of sparring you have referenced here are good in their own ways. They can and will help you not only learn the proper technique of the move but when and where to apply it. But even the best battle plan is thrown out the door as soon as the action starts. You may have technique but in a fight your attacker won't say "hey okay you do this then I'll put my foot here and you can do this while I fall back." He's going to try to hurt you with what he knows and you have to respond without knowing what's going to happen. That's why I believe full contact sparring is the best for real situations in a combat setting. Because in a fight, trust me, it's gonna be full contact and light sparring isn't going to show you how to fight properly. Use all types of sparring in your training but don't rule out full contact because it might hurt. If you get into it for real and you aren't prepared then it WILL hurt.

In my opinion, I would say that realistic full-contact sparring is a definite must. How would you test out and experiment what works or doesn't work in a live situation?

Now I say realistic full-contact meaning not just with shin guards and gloves, but also with rubber knives and sticks because nowadays, everyone's got a concealed weapon on them. The way I spar is on average for 3 rounds @ 3 mins. with gloves and with sticks. Street fights are usually less than that. That's even better, right? If I can run away or knockdown/knockout my street attacker in less than 3 mins. of 3 rounds, that makes my life that much easier. On a side note, I have a 31 inch expandable baton. Now it doesn't take a real genius to swing the baton like a caveman, but it doesn't hurt to have some stickfighting SPARRING experience.

There's an old saying 'Train hard, fight easy'. I'm a true believer of that.

All of the things that you mention above are important along with some contact sparring in my opinion and many of your contact type martial arts and fighting styles have things similar to those that you mention. Take shadow boxing for instance and boxing. That is an important training drill and training aid for a boxer to develop smooth, quick combinations. Focus pad drills or focus mitts is another one and that is prearranged in the sense that the coach or trainer calls out a number and the fighter throws the technique that corresponds to it and hits that mitt or does a combination and all the shots should land accurately and with good speed and power. Look at heavy bag work and using a speed bag or a double end striking bag. Using those to develop various aspects of your skill and fighting ability and are very important and you are not even working with another person when using them. So those things you have mentioned above all have a purpose in martial arts and reasons behind them in developing your skills to the highest level possible along with some contact sparring just like some of these other things that I have mentioned here that you might better relate to.

Every sparring has it pluses, but, ye, mixing is the best option ofcorse.Develope your hits like technique, speed, presicion with lighter contacts and in the end dont miss the fullcontact sparring just to get use to the real fight when you meet some.Its ok to hit with your near best power on training (if you have gloves better for both), but you cant achieve the power when youll have on a streetfight, cause the adrenaline there is rising fast and you will have more power than on training, so dont worry.And whats wrong to beat up some friend on training sometimes ;).

I think some full contact is necessary to fully develop as a martial artist. Learning to take and give full power blows is a complete skill set that requires a lot of training to master. I've seen black belts with awesome technique wither in full contact scenarios against lower ranking practitioners.

All the 'other' sparring techniques that you mentioned are great tools for preparing a student for full contact. Ultimately though, in order to learn how to swim, you have to get in the water.